One of the most misunderstood doctrines of the Gospel is the doctrine of suffering. Christ actually calls Christians to suffer for the Gospel. Christ makes clear what the lives of those who are His disciples would look like when He says, "You will be hated by all for My Name's sake" Luke 21:17. And in Matthew 14:27, Jesus says, "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."
Paul in Romans 8:15 tells us that we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Phil 1:29 reminds us, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” And in Acts 5:41, Peter and John, “left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.”
Most importantly, it says of Christ, "For it was fitting that he [the Father], for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation [Christ] perfect through suffering" (Heb 2:10). And we know that it was "for the joy that was set before him [that Christ] endured the cross, despising the shame." So we know without question that our salvation came to us through suffering. So why would it surprise us that others who come to Christ will also come as they see us suffer for Him and the gospel? Willingly? Joyfully? Passionately?
In America and the Western world, I believe we have taken these words of Christ and about Christ's will for us to suffer as suggestions if needed rather than a commandment for the here and now. Our response is "God bless those who have to suffer but thank God its not me." And of course, we then will usually try to do everything we can in our lives to avoid any lack of ease, discomfort, or pain. We think, "Why should I have to suffer if I don't have to?" It's one reason there are fewer American missionaries in this day and age as a percentage (leaving lives of relative comfort to go some place uncomfortable so as to bring the gospel to others) than at any other time prior. And despite Christ’s command to evangelize, 67% of all humans from AD 30 to the present day have never even heard of His name.
Of course, it's not all our faults, we think. We live good lives. We don't murder. We don't steal. We are honest. We go to church. And we even try to mention His name once a week. And anyway, you say, we live in a culture that constantly bombards us with any and every thing in order to convince us we not only need stuff they are trying to sell us, but how can we resist making our lives more interesting and more convenient if it helps our lives? You say, It's just that we are privileged to live in America...the land of the blessed. So if it's fast, if it entertains me, and if it's really cool or hot or whatever expression you prefer, we of course feel we really need it (I'm guilty too!). So we surround ourselves with stuff to make our lives "easier" and "more comfortable" because it's not really sin and as a result, we obscure the true gospel by the life of leisure and luxury that we pursue.
When I was a kid and went to Christian camps in the mountains with other unbelievers like me, we often used to sing a popular Christian song around the campfire that goes, "They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, they will know we are Christians by our love." It sounds really good and is even biblical. But if you read and study the gospel closely, you see that what proclaims Christ and His love more than anything is how we handle the commandment to die to self. Because it is when self is out of the way, that we can love others more purely. And suffering seems to be God's chosen prescription or medicine to help bring death to self.
The Puritans who became martyrs for their love of the gospel, appeared more content when dying at the stake than at any other time in their lives. During bloody Mary’s reign, John Foxe says of Bishop Hooper, the great martyr, as he walked to his death, “He looked very cheerfully on those he knew: and was never known during the time of his living among them, to have such a cheerful and cherry-red countenance as he did at that moment.” Even while suffering their bodies to be burned or their heads to be cut off, their joy and contentment was infectious. Hooper knew Phil 1:29 that says, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for his sake!" They suffered that others might know Him! And did they ever as both the poor and the rich rushed to learn to read the Scriptures to know how men like this could have such joy in suffering! What was their secret? They had to know! And scores of them came to Christ as a result!
Second Timothy 2:3-4 tells us, "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." How do Christians share in suffering, you might ask, especially if they are not greatly persecuted? They share in Christ's suffering by seeing themselves as dying WITH Christ to self. Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." We learn to say "NO" to self so that our true love will be Christ. And others will notice.
The result? When the world thinks of a Christian, we will find that he or she are not so defined by what they have but by what they have let go and what they have denied themselves for Christ's and for others' sake. Denying self and losing sight of our life for His sake is Christ's command! Can we get legalistic? Of course. Is this a way of gaining favor or merit with God? Of course not. Is this God's heart for us and our lives? No doubt. Are we, as the American part of the body of Christ, actually embracing suffering? No.
We are suffering as a people but it's a different kind of suffering. Our creature comforts are our idols that often draw our hearts away from sole worship of God alone (embodied in the first and second commandment) and amazingly have also become for many of us what keeps us from loving our neighbor well as we love ourselves (the greatest commandment, Jesus said).
What happens when we willingly choose discomfort to deny ourselves? When we are not wrapped up in our little worlds of technology and creature comforts, when life is not about entertaining ourselves or amusing ourselves to death, as a wise, unbelieving author once wrote, the real world around us suddenly becomes much more interesting. We begin to see our neighbors as people to meet who need the gospel instead of those we need to avoid (because we previously had bought into avoiding discomfort at all cost).
We begin to detach from "things" and attach to "people." If we embrace the doctrine of suffering, we see "self" as unimportant. Life is not about us. It's not about our comfort. It's not about ease. It's not about our rejection. In fact, we actually begin to embrace opportunities for discomfort and pain and rejection so that others might be saved.
Recently we watched as a family in awe a recent episode of "Survivor" when a participant, Brenda, was given a choice after winning a reward challenge to either: 1) Go with a friend she wants to honor and both see their loved ones who've come to visit and eat a feast together, OR 2) Choose the others who didn't win to be given the blessing of being with their loved ones and eating the feast. Brenda amazingly sacrifices her own comfort and pleasure and instead chooses pain and discomfort for her and for her friend, who she had originally chose for glory and honor, so that all the others might not suffer but instead experience great joy and pleasure and love and a great feast.
What an incredible picture of what God did for us! Brenda strategically chose to spare the others suffering hoping to win a million dollars by choosing her own and her "honored' one's suffering (by the way, her friend didn't handle it well). But God the Father strategically chose suffering for His only Son who accepted it joyfully so as to spare us the suffering of eternal damnation. And the result? We get to go to the Feast of the Lamb in heaven.
So what is God calling us to do now? Go and do likewise. Suffer now so that others don't have to later. Put off the feast now in this life so that others may be able to share in the feast later. Be such a demonstration of Christ's love to others that there is nothing you are unwilling to sacrifice, nothing you are unwilling to suffer, even if it means just one coming to know Jesus.
It is clear: it is through our suffering that Christ’s sufferings are magnified to others. Author John Piper says, “It’s not dressing the coolest, driving the coolest, typing on the coolest! This is not going to get any praise for the suffering Christ! We have to break free from the Disneyland of America and begin to live lifestyles of missionary sacrifice that look to the world like our treasure is in heaven and not on earth.”
Please don't miss the message! I like Disneyland, even more Disney World, especially Epcot! It's not the things themselves. It's our hearts. Where is your treasure? Where is your time, talent and treasure spent? Are you actively engaged right now in reaching an unbeliever for Christ? Is there a relationship you are building right now to share the glory of Christ's gospel? Is there someone you are helping by putting off your feast now so THEY can feast later? And why are you not giving it up if it means reaching them? By all means, go to Disneyland but why not go with an unbelieving friend? And even pay for them! It might not be as entertaining or as much fun for you and it may mean less pocket money but are you LIVING for your own comfort? Or are you living for the gospel of Christ and Him glorified?
It is not only that we actually think that forgoing these comforts is suffering; it is that we are unwilling to embrace even this kind of suffering when it could mean some who are heading to hell without the knowledge of Christ would instead know Him and eternal life! And that, friends, is not love.
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